The present invention relates generally to directional flashing warning lamps, more particularly to a light emitting diode (LED) directional lamp, and, even more particularly, to an LED directional lamp which meets Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standards.
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) publishes many new, revised, and reaffirmed standards each year in three categories, including Ground Vehicle Standards (J-Reports). Information on these standards is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.sae.org.
Two of these SAE standards are pertinent to this invention. SAE standard J595 provides design guidelines, test procedure references, and performance requirements for flashing incandescent warning lamps. It is intended to apply to, but is not limited to, surface land vehicles. The purpose of the standard is to establish general requirements for flashing warning lamps for use on authorized emergency, maintenance, and service vehicles. This standard applies only to incandescent warning lamps, presumably because heretofore only incandescent lamps could meet this standard.
A flashing warning lamp is defined by the standard as a lamp in which the light source is turned on and off by circuit interruption producing a repetitive flash of light which is directionally aimed and will project a flashing beam signal over a minimum area from 20xc2x0 right to 20xc2x0 left on a horizontal plane and from 10xc2x0 up to 10xc2x0 down on a vertical plane.
Reprinted herebelow are the photometric requirements of a warning lamp as stated in Tables 1 and 2, respectively of J595:
SAE standard J1318 also applies to directional warning lamps. The standard defines a directional warning lamp as a lamp that produces a repetitive flash of light which is directionally aimed and will project a flashing beam signal over a minimum area from 20xc2x0 right to 20xc2x0 left on a horizontal plane and from 10xc2x0 up to 10xc2x0 down on a vertical plane. Reprinted herebelow are the photometric requirements of a directional warning lamp as stated in Tables 4 and 8, respectively, of J1318:
Both standards J595 and J1318 are incorporated herein by reference. Heretofore, only incandescent lamps have been manufactured to meet J595, and only incandescent and gas discharge lamps have been manufactured to meet standard J1318. What is needed, then, is a light assembly comprising LEDs which meets the requirements of SAE J595 and J1318.
The invention broadly comprises a light emitting diode flashing directional warning lamp, having a housing, a printed circuit board secured within the housing, a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted to the printed circuit board and operatively arranged to produce light which is directed away from the housing and directionally aimed to project a beam over a minimum area from approximately 20xc2x0 right to 20xc2x0 left on a horizontal plane and from 10xc2x0 up to 10xc2x0 down on a vertical plane, and a driving circuit operatively arranged to flash the plurality of light emitting diodes.
The principal object of this invention is to provide a light emitting diode flashing directional warning lamp which meets Society of Automotive Engineers Standards J595 and J1318.
Another object of the invention is to provide a directional warning lamp that is more efficient to operate, and less susceptible to vibration, than conventional incandescent and gas discharge lamps.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings and claims.